C'est La Vie
by biscotti gelato
Summary: Introverted and an ever constant bookworm, Adriana Watson was surprised when an old friend of hers, Reed Richards, asked for her assistance. Reluctantly agreeing, she didn't know how much it was going to change her life. Johnny/OC


**Summary**: Introverted and an ever constant bookworm, Adriana Watson was surprised when an old friend of hers, Reed Richards, asked for her assistance. Reluctantly agreeing, she didn't know how much it was going to change her life. Johnny/OC

Please remember, _Fantastic Four_ came out in 2005, and this story is firmly set in 2005.

* * *

The tension in the room was thick and unyielding.

The cluttered place was currently occupied by three individuals, whose eyes constantly shifted around uneasily with suspicion. They sat at a table inside of the dining room, the silence pervading throughout the entire area. At the end of the object lay a container that had Arch Angels written under the large letters that read Bicycle.

On one side of the rectangular table were a woman and a man, whose faces were scrunched up in deep thought and concentration as they held the cards in their hands. Opposite the two people was another woman, who constantly fidgeted with her own batch of cards as she watched the man with nervous eyes, patiently waiting for him to speak.

And in case you hadn't guessed it, that 'another woman' is me.

"...Got a five?" Lucas finally asked me, green orbs bearing into mine while my own immediately darted down to the cards in my grasp.

I broke out into a small smile, shaking my head. "Go fish," I answered with an ounce of triumph, tapping the side of the hard paper. The cards in my hand only consisted of a seven of hearts, six of diamonds, and an ace of spades. That didn't necessarily mean I was winning, since I only had about five pairs while Lucas and Serena had a million.

Over exaggerating, but I knew I was losing terribly. In a game of Go Fish.

Lucas grumbled under his breathe, taking a card from the quickly dwindling stack in the middle of us and adding it to his own set. I wasn't completely sure why he was irritated, since Lucas seemed like the one to be winning out of the three of us. He leaned back in his chair, waiting for Serena to continue on with the game.

His cousin grinned cheerfully, her undivided attention now fixated on me since it was her turn. "So... Adriana, dear." Serena placed her cards down on the table, and gazed at me bluntly. I shifted uncomfortably, wondering where the conversation was now going. "As much as I'd like to know if you have a queen on your hands, have you heard about what happened to your friend, Reese Picard?"

Blankly, I looked at her. My mind racked through who I knew, and I was completely sure that I did not know or was aware of anyone unfortunately named Reese Picard. "Ren... I don't know anybody named that. And Captain Picard is a fictional character," I told her with a frown, eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"That's because the name she said was incorrect," Lucas shot a look to the girl, who shrugged her shoulders innocently, "you talked about him once and awhile when you told us about meeting him at the library. Reed Richards, does that ring a bell?"

The name did click in my head right away. I'd become acquainted with Reed Richards a long time ago, surprising me with his high intellect and expertise in certain areas. He was a frequent library goer, and we'd occasionally struck up a conversation on his work and mine, since he had informed me that he was a physicist. I hadn't seen him in a long time, though, since I quit working as a librarian. My mother did mention once that he became bankrupt, but I wasn't sure about that since he was one of the smartest people I'd had the benefit of knowing.

Nodding lightly, I carefully placed my cards down, making sure that my two friends couldn't see them. "Yes, I know fully well who he is. Why, did something happen to him?" I asked with the slightest hint of worry in my voice, since he seemed like a nice fellow to me and helped me whenever I needed it.

"Something _fantastic_ happened to him," Serena giggled like it was her own inside joke while Lucas groaned and I became even more bewildered, "oh right. You don't get it. Do you even watch any television?"

At her pitiful tone, I tried not to feel insulted. I didn't usually watch television on a daily or maybe even weekly basis, mostly because I chose to bury myself in piles of books. Yes, the references Serena constantly made to certain tv shows left me baffled, but I preferred words over flashy reality tv. Once and awhile though, I popped in a few historical series or films into my DVD player.

Managing to speak again after my prolonged silence, I shook my head. "You know I rarely use it," I said with a sigh, running a hand through my hair absentmindedly.

"Well, we definitely need to work on that!" She pursed her lips, determined to make me stop being a, what do you call that again...? Oh, now I've found the word. A wallflower, as she had claimed I was when we first met and when I couldn't stop hiding behind my mother because I was so shy of her. "I want you to name a recent film that came out," She insisted, lazily pointing a finger at me.

I frowned. "I'm not that distant from the media," I lightly replied, racking my brain for anything I'd seen recently, "I recall there was a movie about some missing fish whose name was Femo and then some odd hunt to get it to make it into sushi. Something like that."

"...Adriana, that movie came out two years ago, and its title is _Finding Nemo_," Lucas deadpanned as he sent me a raised eyebrow, "they also didn't eat Nemo. I'm sure of that."

Flushing pink, my brown orbs darted downward to the card covered table. "Oh."

Serena smiled triumphantly, before quickly getting the topic back on Reed. "Anyway, back to that cute friend of yours. He went on a trip to space, but I am just going by what the reporters said, so I don't know for sure."

My jaw dropped in shock when I processed her words. Reed had gone to space? The vast unknown in the sky where astronauts had seen with their own two eyes, the star lit sky where I had once dreamt to inspect up close. Well, his life seemed to be amazing then... "Why would he go there? What kind of research was he doing in space?" I asked in wonder.

"It may have said why he did, but I didn't pay attention to that at all," Serena waved a hand, "but it changed them or something. Apparently he can stretch his body."

"Um, everybody can stretch their bodies..." My voice trailed off, with Lucas stifling a chuckle at my quick and confused remark directed toward Serena's last words. I even did a demonstration, stretching my arm outwards to the right.

She smacked her forehead at my words, shaking her head adamantly. "Not the usual stretch like in the mornings when you wake up stretch! What I mean, is that he's... Luc, I don't know how to describe it. Give me some help, here?" Glancing at the black haired man, she gestured for him to help her.

"Elastic," Lucas provided with a roll of his eyes, idly pinching Serena on the cheek because of his annoyance, "his arms stretched a few feet to save this firefighter from the footage that we've seen. It was pretty interesting to see what he could do. I thought it was some movie with special effects, but I thought wrong." He then threw his cards down, sighing.

My eyebrows furrowed even further at the helpful explanation. Something had occurred in space, something that had led to Reed's body that made him, daresay, gain superhuman abilities. Odd, I wonder what happened to his DNA that caused his sudden elasticity.

Serena agreed fervently, slapping a hand down on the wooden table out of enthusiasm. "Yes! And oh my gosh, you should've seen them. All four of them had these totally kickass powers, and saved a bunch of people's lives," She informed me with blatant awe and respect in her tone, before her expression soured, "well, three out of the four of them are badass."

"_Four_? Four of them had their bodies altered by something in space that led to them having superhuman abilities...?" Even as those words passed through my mouth, I highly doubted it unless I saw it up close, with my own two eyes. Reed himself was credible, but the media? No, I didn't see them as much of a trustworthy source at all.

"Yep. I wish I had superpowers," She sighed dreamily, a glazed look taking over her face, "the ability to read minds, maybe. So I could hear all the insults Lucas is probably giving me in his mind just so I could answer back to him or get revenge." Cue a pointed look at the older cousin's face.

"Don't worry, I'll always insult you up front." Lucas assured her, adding on a smirk when she slapped his arm in irritation. He glanced at me, and I felt my cheeks darken again, like they usually did when someone threw their intense gaze at me. "Ad, when did our game of Go Fish turn into Serena bothering us about a group of people with weird powers?"

I shrugged lightly, picking up my cards as Serena continued to daydream about how life would be with awesome abilities. Seemed like she wasn't going to play, so that would mean it was now my turn. "Got any sixes?" I asked Lucas, eying the card marked with six in my hands.

"Go fish."

"...I'm starting to hate this game."

* * *

"Mom, I'm home..."

No response.

I audibly sighed, throwing my keys into the purple bowl that was placed in the front of our apartment. Off came my shoes, which I neatly placed beside each other. My mother was probably out again, either at her boyfriend's or having a ladies' night out. Not that I cared much about her activities, I just sometimes missed the times when she'd welcome me home and fuss over me. But that was when I was fifteen, and I was now twenty-three years old. Cheers to getting older, I suppose.

Not that my mother lived with me nor did I live with her. I suppose. She forced me to get an apartment, right next to hers when I wanted to leave our home. Really, we lived right next to each other, since her apartment was to the left of mine. I doubt Mother wanted me to "leave the nest," as they put it, since she still spent time at her apartment and bought me things I needed.

But I did have a small social life. Serena and Lucas were old friends of mine from when I was younger, and I was completely overjoyed when they decided to move into the same building we lived in. They were part of the scarce friendships I had, part of the even smaller social connections I took hesitance in. Even though they did live a floor right below us, that sort of counted as going outside. Most of the time I went out was to jog or go to the library, and always to work. I rarely spent time outside, something that I'd refrain from doing since I was young.

Pulling off the puffy jacket I had hurriedly thrown on earlier, I lazily threw my bag onto one of the couches. It missed and hit the ground, making me wince at the large slam it made on the wooden floor boards. My bag usually held around three to four books I was currently reading, so it was constantly full and heavy. I stepped up toward the kitchen to find anything to eat, maybe dessert.

I opened my polished fridge, leaning down to eye anything that was tasteful in my opinion. Well, I certainly wasn't going to eat the expired yogurt shoved into the corner. Neither was the mountain of asparagus my mother had generously piled up on a glass plate going anywhere near my mouth.

"Hm, I really should write a list for mom to use when grocery shopping," I muttered aloud, settling for a lone pudding cup that practically screamed for me to devour it. Peeling the lid off of it, I inhaled the scent of the familiar chocolatey goodness. Thank goodness for JELL-O pudding.

Closing the appliance with a hurried shove and finding a clean spoon, I walked out into the living room to fix up my bag and see if my books were alright. But as I set down the pudding next to the answering machine, I noticed the blaring red number on it. It blinked '1', signifying that someone had called us and left a message.

I inwardly debated whether I should answer it or not, but eventually figured that I had nothing to lose. With a finger, I pressed one of the buttons to listen to the voicemail, shoving a generous amount of the creamy chocolate treat into my mouth.

It sounded like someone was fumbling around for a moment before they finally began speaking. "Hello, Adriana? Um, I'm not sure if you remember me, but this is Reed Richards ―"

"_Gack_!" I choked on the glob of pudding making way through my throat as I heard the physicist's familiar voice and the mentioning of his name. Why was he calling me? After hacking and coughing for a good two minutes until my throat hurt and when I finally felt better, I decided to try listening to the machine again. Except without choking on chocolate pudding.

"Hello, Adriana? Um, I'm not sure if you remember me, but this is Reed Richards. I got your home's phone number after asking one the librarians where you used to work at," His voice sounded awkward and rushed, I noted thoughtfully, "but the reason I'm calling is because I need your help. I'm sure you've heard of what happened to me. I'll explain more; just call me back at 220-4121. Bye." The machine clicked, ending the message.

Reed... needed my assistance...? I replayed the message again and again, further becoming more and more confused at his request. How could I possibly help one of the brightest and most intelligent men of the twenty-first century? I didn't know if I should call him back.

Collapsing into one of the couches, I drew my knees up to my chest as I stared blankly at the turned off television. Reed must've trusted me to be able to call me after everything he'd been through. With a slight hesitance, I picked up the television remote. Finding the on button, I pressed on it and watched the screen turn to life. On it read the words _Grey's Anatomy_, but I could hardly pay attention to the woman narrating.

My eyes trailed to where my worn out bag had fallen, seeing one of the books had already pushed out. I reached for the bag's straps, bringing it up to the couch. The three books splayed over the soft material of the seats, its titles gleaming from the over head lighting. _The Winter King_, a splendid novel concerning King Arthur, along with the wonderfully constructed photos encased in _Bridging the World_, and finally, _Basic Machines and How They Work_, which title is certainly self explanatory.

I leafed through _Bridging the World_, studying the intricate details of the Clermont Ferrand Viaduct before flipping around and ending up on the Old Elvet Bridge. Before I could muse over the masonry bridge and idly wonder where my life was going since I was reading a book on bridges (that's not completely normal), the phone rang.

Going still, I glanced at the phone. With the silent hope that it wasn't Reed, I swept the wireless device off of its perch to answer it. 'Mom' it flashed across the screen, and I let out a small breathe of relief. I really wasn't ready to make a decision on the matter, yet.

"Hello?" I held the phone to my ear, collapsing unto the couch again. Shifting uncomfortably, I decided to sit upside down, with my head almost touching the floor as I spoke to my mother.

"Adriana, sweetie." My mother's familiar voice erupted from the phone, and I winced since it was so close to my ear. Ow. Should not have poked the speaker button then... "I know you just got back from your Saturday evening game night with Renny. But Mommy's going on a trip."

Ignoring her words (seriously, _Mommy_?), I flipped myself upright on the couch, eyes narrowed furtively. "What do you mean 'going on a trip'?" I demanded quietly.

"Welll, Jake may have surprised me with a small trip to Cancun," She gushed to me and I slapped my head against the pillow I held tightly, "he's just the sweetest guy ever."

And more proof that my mother has more of a life then me ― no, Adriana, this is certainly not the time for self-pity, I chided myself. "What about the restaurant? I can't hold it up by myself," I told her feverishly, already beginning to dread having to constantly worry over everything, "you know that."

"Exactly why we're having the restaurant closed for the next two weeks." Mother said dismissively, before giggling girlishly and telling someone to 'stop tickling me' in the background. Sudden need for me to barf was approaching warp speed. "Consider it vacation."

"...Everyone will notice that the restaurant is closed and will probably think that the business is gone forever," I remarked skeptically.

My mother scoffed from her side. "Already covered, Adriana. I'm just saying we had 'renovations' for the next two weeks."

"You're _positive_ this will work."

"I swear on my hair."

She did love her hair out of all her features, so she must have been completely sure of her foolproof plan. But me... I still had my doubts about it. "Well..." I bit my lip, in thought. I couldn't keep my mother away from possibly the only thing that could keep her happy, which was her boyfriend. Exhaling softly, I spoke three words. "Goodbye. Have fun."

"Ooh! Thanks, sweetie! I'll make sure to buy you a souvenir!"

And with that, my mother hung up.

With the phone clenched in my right hand, I tried to fumble through my thoughts. Serena tells me odd news about my old friend, mentioned old friend called me to help him with something, and now my mother was abruptly leaving to Cancun with her boyfriend. Since she was gone, that left me alone in the apartment without her pestering me to get married or working longer hours at the family restaurant.

It was brilliant.

But then Reed. How could I refuse his request? He'd always given me great advice or a gentle push in the right direction when I got stuck working on a problem. He'd helped me further my mind on physics, and taught me much better than any of my previous teachers or professors did.

Guilt gnawed at me and I groaned, once again slamming my forehead against the pillow until I felt somewhat better. I listened to his voicemail again, before copying down the numbers he'd left behind unto a nearby library receipt.

I dialled his number, shoving in another spoonful of pudding into my mouth.

Someone answered. "Hello?" Well, either Reed somehow managed to alter his voice in the past hour, or this was a woman who answered the call.

"Uh. Hi." I uttered confusedly before later deciding how stupid I'd sounded. Well, to justify it, I was never really great at talking with strangers. Talking to strangers over the phone was something I dreaded, even. Erm, I needed to get on with the phone call. "I'm looking for Reed. Reed Richards."

"Oh." She sounded somewhat unhappy for an odd reason, but I honestly had no idea. I didn't know who she was and I didn't particularly recognise her voice, so I was sure we weren't familiar with each other.

A few moments later, Reed's familiar voice came from the other line. "Yes, you asked for me?" He said politely, and I pulled at a loose thread in the throw pillow I had.

Tentatively, I mumbled a few words, ripping out the thread with my index finger. "This is Adriana..."

"Adriana!" He exclaimed immediately, and I smiled slightly at the sound of his surprise. Clearing his throat, Reed spoke again, sounding embarrassed. "Sorry about that. Anyway, I'm assuming you're responding back about the message I left?" I don't think I imagined the hope embedded into his voice.

I sighed. "Yeah, Reed. About that, what exactly would I be helping you with?"

"You're aware of the strange abilities we've procured, right?" Reed asked busily, and I could hear the pushing of papers from his line. It was definitely a good thing that Serena had told me about them earlier on... "I'm working on a machine, a machine to revert us back to normal. I figured you could help me with it, since you're a mechanical engineer after all ―"

"I'm not a mechanical engineer." The words rolled off my tongue, a bitterness resonating throughout it.

"You're_ not_?" Reed bewilderingly asked, and the sound of paper moving along with pencil writing on them stopped altogether. He seemed genuinely shocked by the news, which did actually surprise me. "But the last time we spoke, you were studying to become one..."

"It didn't work out the way I wanted it to." I finally managed to get out, the words surprisingly easy to say. I'd moved on from that, and I just had to live with the fact my dreams weren't given the chance to be achieved. "I'm probably not even qualified to help you, Reed. You're the smartest guy in the entire world, and I'm just a regular girl who got burnt by the sun when she tried to soar too high."

He sounded sympathetic at my blunt words, replying back after my words sunk in. "Don't say that. You were completely driven and had the highest possibility of being one of the greatest mechanical engineers if you were given the chance."

"Well, you've certainly gotten me feeling better," I stretched my legs languidly, feeling the need to change the subject from the depressing events of my life, "I just don't think I have the capabilities to help you. May I remind you, for the thousandth time, that you're a freakishly magnificent genius." He chuckled.

"You read all of the engineering books at the library," Reed reminded me before he finally turned pleading, "please, Adriana. Ben took this the hardest out of all us, and after all he's done for me, I need to turn him back to normal. Doing whatever it takes."

Ben... Oh, him. I remembered him from the times he joined Reed in the library. He was a nice man, a tad gruff, but he'd made me laugh a few times. His close friendship with Reed was something I'd grown to admire. I had watched them curiously before, wondering if I was like that with Serena on several occasions. But judging from Reed's tone, he was desperate and whatever happened to Ben must've been terrible for Reed to go to such great lengths. Ben was a good-natured person toward me, so why shouldn't I help the guy out?

If Reed thought I had the slightest chance at assisting their problem, then what could _I_ possibly lose?

"I..." Rubbing my forehead, I leaned back onto the comfy seats and closed my eyelids. _Looks like I'm caving in this time. Curse you, conscious._ "Fine. You win, Mr. Richards. I'll help you."

* * *

**A/N**: Um, yep. This is strictly movie-verse. Um please review, fave, and alert...?


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